Type of course

Course content

The course aims to give students basic research skills for utilising film and text as different means in the production and mediation of ethnographic research. During the course the students will produce a film and a written thesis.                             

Returning from fieldwork, the students will start to prepare the writing of their exam paper and the editing of their exam film. In the analysis of their fieldwork material, the course aims at utilizing images and texts as different modalities for producing anthropological knowledge. The film footage will be utilized for ethnographic descriptions and analysis, where film and text mutually inform and inspire each other. During the autumn term, the students will work on systematizing their empirical material for film and text purposes, and present a first draft of their thesis by the end of term. In the spring term the students will edit their exam film and finalize their written dissertation. Exam film and paper must be ready for evaluation by the 15th of May.

Objectives of the course

Students who successfully complete this course should have achieved the following learning outcomes:

 Knowledge - the candidate:

• can distinguish and reflect critically on their own and other people’s ways of knowing.
• knows how to identify suitable analytical approaches based on their empirical material
• is able to discuss and evaluate theoretical and methodological approaches within qualitative social science and visual studies
• knows the rules of scientific reliability in the establishment of knowledge within the qualitative social sciences.
• has knowledge of the debates on advocacy and empowerment in the social science tradition.

 Skills - the candidate:

• is able to demonstrate basic research skills for the use of film and text as different means in the production and dissemination of ethnographic knowledge
• is able to demonstrate an ability to try out, in an experimental way, different possible steps in the establishment of knowledge. 
• is able to implement and analyze visual, oral, corporeal and other systems of meaning

General competence - the candidate:

• is able to make a research based ethnographic film
• is able to present a consistent analytical argument in the form of a written thesis
• is able to build knowledge about one’s own and fellow students’ empirical field through collaborative work and comparison
• is able to demonstrate the relative relevance of different theoretical and methodological approaches to the empirical characteristics of research material

• is able to identify and discuss how knowledge production and reflexivity can be used as tools for empowerment of research partners and local communities

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

Part of the teaching is organised in 'Film and text seminars' (approx. 40 hours), combined with lectures (approx. 30 hours).

The students present work-in-progress, both film and texts, in compulsory seminars. Students receive individual supervision throughout the film and text-making process.